


Family Ghosts

by Clueless_in_Wonderland



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Edited, Jupiter Ascending Fic Challenge, Kalique is having no more of Titus' shit, Sort of ghost story, Titus is losing it, halloween fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 16:19:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5097158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clueless_in_Wonderland/pseuds/Clueless_in_Wonderland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Titus has started losing his mind. Written for JA Fic Challenge #5: Season of Fear</p><p>Set post-movie. I suck at summaries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first posted fic, so please feel to offer any constructive criticism. All comments are welcome and appreciated!

Titus wandered the halls of his alcazar again. Before, he never spent very long here – perhaps a year here or there between his travels – but after his failed attempt to marry Seraphi's Recurrence, he lost almost all of his fortune. Kalique had saved him from poverty; if both her brothers' lives ended in scandal, Kalique's standing would be damaged. It tugged at the corners of his mouth how far she was willing to go to maintain appearances. What he had left to him now, he had to budget. With Balem's death, Jupiter was given the vast majority of his fortune. The refinery's surveillance was the best that could be had, of course, and everything was recorded. Kalique had reached out to Jupiter with one hand to assure her she had no idea it could have possibly been Balem while snatching what was left with the other. Nothing was left to him.  


Restraint was a foreign thing to Titus. He'd never been so restless, wandered so aimlessly so often. Today, he found himself again staring at his pathetic supply of RegeneX; there was barely enough to show he was an Entitled. He picked up a container and watched its contents swirl with the life of those from which it was made. He tilted it until he could see a ghost of his reflection. This was the first time in his long life he'd seen grey streaking his hair. The first time in millennia he had lines carving imperfect creases in the formerly youthful canvas of his face. Mother had never let him look so old. He curled his lip at the imperfection he saw reflected in the glass. He was about to set the RegeneX back in its place on the shelf when he saw her reflection beside his own.  


Jupiter Jones – the very reason behind his current state – was staring rather intently at him, and looking more like Seraphi than ever before. Titus breathed, put on his most winning smile, and turned to face her.  


“Miss Jones... You-”  


There was no one there. He blinked and looked around the room... no one. He shook his head. A product of aging, he told himself. He managed to smile and convince himself it was nothing but a trick of the mind, and went back to his wanderings.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  


Titus sat at the end of the table while his servants cleared the remainder of his supper away, and debated whether it would be wise to call for dessert. He pressed a hand to his stomach; aging had many, many undesirable consequences. He still had to take care, the few routes left to him to return to something reminiscent of his former standing depended on him maintaining his appearance. He stared into his wine, once again catching his reflection and contemplating his appearance. Turning his head to the side he looked at his jawline, mourned how the skin didn't hug just so anymore. He stared until he saw _her_ again in the very edges of the reflection. She was standing over him on his right, almost touching him. He slowly turned his head back to stare directly into the wine, and watched her very closely. Watched to see if she'd move, watched to see if she'd leave. Jupiter did neither, just stood staring at him. He squinted at her reflection, she did indeed look more like Seraphi than she ever had before. Even the way she arched her brow at him was an exact duplicate of his mother.  


“Titus.”  


That was not Jupiter Jones' voice. Titus' head whipped toward her and he stood up fast enough to upset his chair. His eyes darted around the room. Again she wasn't there – only the now very concerned servants looked back at him. _I've let myself get too old. I've just spent too much time wandering the halls._ He was almost desperate in his attempts to convince himself. A Nectar bath. That's what he needed. To be young and healthy again. Chasing away his age would chase away his visions. He had to exercise every ounce of his newfound restraint to not run to his bathing chamber and dive headfirst into the bath. He waited ever calm and at ease as the bath was prepared, slowly walked into the water, and slowly sank beneath the surface.  


He'd forgotten how intense RegeneX was. His eyes flew open as every cell in his body electrified and energy coursed through him. Unwilling to part with the feeling, he held his breath until he took in air with the same hunger he took in his new infusion of life. His skin sang with the energy that still shot across it, the aches he'd grown accustom to where gone, his vision was sharp and clear again, and the addled state of mind he'd been in was a bad memory now. Titus held his hands in front of him and admired their youth. He ran his hands along his body and felt the life in his skin restored. He smiled with a glee that hadn't been seen on him since his failed attempt at marriage. _This_ was him at his peak and he _reveled_ in it.  


Stepping out of the bath, his attendants dressed him in finer clothing than he'd worn in years; clothing that once again fit him like a glove and showed off his new youth. He began considering calling a few of his potential routes out of this limbo between poverty and wealth now that he was himself again. Maybe take his (now considerably smaller) clipper to see a few and have a lovely evening or two. He smiled, that seemed like a very good idea.  


“Famulus, I think I'll be taking a brief vacation from here.”  


“When will we be leaving, my Lord?” Titus' nose briefly wrinkled at that; he hadn't been left alone since his release. He strongly suspected if he were to do anything to further endanger his reputation, he would be detained and quite possibly sent to Kalique for safekeeping.  


“Tomorrow. I think some travel would be nice, don't you?”  


“Yes, my Lord.” She was already tapping away on her sheave.  


He smiled and made his way to his rooms. He would have liked to have left now, but he doubted that would have been taken as well. He was left to his own devices, but only so far as the spies he knew Kalique had placed would let him. If he started to push too hard or too fast, he knew he would likely be strategically and “accidentally” delayed. It was a pretty cage that had been built for him, an almost translucent one.  


He made it back to his rooms before the cold feeling began to creep back onto the edges of his mind. He studiously ignored the mirror in his room, the dark windows that would reflect, even the shined metal of his own bracelet. He ignored them until his was about to go mad with the anxiety of it all. He kept his eyes on the floor and slowly walked to his mirror. His mirror was a ridiculous thing, half again as tall as he was and twice as wide. Titus took a deep, steadying breath and prepared to stare down his mother. He would not become Balem, tortured by the mere memory of Seraphi, he was stronger than that. He could face his own demons without losing himself. He was not his brother and he was never more grateful for that. He looked into his mirror fully ready to stare at his mother until his mind moved from whatever it was circling. He met his own eyes, looked to his right, his eyes met blue, and his blood ran cold.  


This was it. Madness must run in the Abrasax family. Titus prepared to see Seraphi; she created him, it made sense that she would haunt him when his stability was upset. Balem was not supposed to be here. Balem was dead. He was never close to Balem, not like he was his mother. No. NO. This was insanity. Titus screwed his eyes shut and turned his head away. He cradled his head in his hands, and tried not to panic. His head was spinning when he looked back in the mirror. Balem was still there, head titled slightly as he looked at Titus with the same loathing he did the last time they saw each other on Zalintyre. When Titus slowly turned to look over his shoulder... no one. Again, no one. He looked back in the mirror to see only himself, and started to hyperventilate. He was going mad. He needed to get out of this room. He needed to move, to be able to run if he had to. He had to get out.  


He almost sprinted from his room. He walked quickly away from that accursed mirror, away from any reflective object. Down dark halls and winding paths he fled from their memories. He took the stairs to the balcony overlooking the planet below, and had to stop against one of the columns lining the edge of the balcony to catch his breath. The wind was strong tonight. He felt it as it whipped his hair into a mess and cooled his fevered skin. He smiled when he started to regain his breath. Here, seemingly above his troubles and just below the clouds, he felt safe. He looked over the edge of the floor down to the ground below him, and looked over the edge of the roof up to the sky above him. He was suspended here between the heavens and the planet beneath him. He stayed there for a long while, breathing in the cool night air and letting it calm his mind. When he felt stable and secure again, he turned to go back inside, back to his mirror to face his ghosts, and back to sanity. It wasn't until he saw his reflection in the door blocking his path back inside that he realized there was no escaping this, not for any length of time.  


This was large enough of a surface to reflect both of them this time. They both stared at him with a burning hatred, as if they would never forgive him for squandering his fortune on petty, unsuccessful ventures. Titus stepped back from them and their rage strong enough it scorched his skin; he backed away from their memories until the his heel stepped off the ledge of the balcony and he had to pitch himself forward to avoid falling. He leaned against a column, and looked between the two. They had never really looked like each other, Seraphi saved any resemblance for her other two children, but now there was no mistaking the two for family. Their famous Abrasax temper was mirrored on each others' faces.  


“Why?” Titus whispered to them.  


Seraphi's lip curled in response, and Titus closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and asked again.  


“Why?” He opened his eyes and saw only his mother still staring at him. He shook his head and looked away, let his eyes wander away from her. He looked at the gleaming pillar beside him, and saw Balem's face so close he could see the capillaries in his eyes. Titus breathed sharply, without thinking quickly stepped away from Balem, and pitch backwards.  


Titus stepped into air. His fingertips scraped along the smooth stone of the column. His foot slipped on the polished floor. And then he was touching nothing.


End file.
